Pwo V AL Or. rT 


eis DECEMEBE 


THE PUBLIC DEPOSITES. 


The amendment proposed by Mr. McDurriz 
to the propesition of Mr. Pous, to refer the) re- 
pert of the Secretary of the Treasury to the Com- 
mittee of Ways and Means, being under con- 
sideration, Mr. MeDvurriz said— 

Mr. Srearen—lI shall new proceed, Six, to 
atate the reasons which have induced me to sub- 
mit the resolution just read, In strict justice, T 
delieve that itis due to the Bank of | the United 
States, that the ‘public money taken from its 
vaults should be restored; but as this would now 
add greatly to the embarrassment aud distress of 
the Community, I have confined my resolution 

4o the revenue hereafter to be collected, leaving it 
to the justice of Congress to indemnify the Bank 
for any loss it,may sustain by the violation of its 
chartered rights. I belieye that we are under 
the most solemn obligations to adopt this mea- 
aure—obligations founded in the highest consi- 
derations of public justice, pleted Bee and ape 
litical expediency. 

The whole public treasure of the United 


tablished by law, by an arbitrary and lawless 
exercise of Execuliye power. 
act has been done by the President of the Unit- 
ed States, not only without legal authority, but 
} i might almost say, in contempt ih the an oh 
ty a Congress. . 

. We were told by the President, in his ittial 
} messige-—and told with great gravity—that the 
‘ Seer crear us of the Treasury had deemed it expe- 
| ‘dient to remove the deposites from. the Bank of 
the United. States, and that he, (the President, ) 
“approving of the. reasons of the Secretary, ac- 
quiesced i in the measure. Now, Sir, I do not 
“mean to charge the President of the United 
‘States with stating to: Congress what is not the 
fact acearding to his view of the subject, —but I 
undertake to assert broadly, that the Secretary 
of the. ‘Treagury did not remove ‘the deposites, 
feet that to all legal and saver intents and 


" States has been removed from the depository es- 
Taffirm that the 


Ty of the Treasury--ordered the removal of the | 


SPEECH OF MR. M°DUPFEFIE, 


ON THE SUBJECT OF THE 


HE DEPOSITES.. 


ER 19, 1833. 


| purposes, the removal was made by the Presi- 


dent of the United States, against the opinion and 
will of the officer to whora the power of removal 
was entrusted bylaw. This, then, is the great 
legal and constitutional question which we are 
now todetermine. Whois it that has removed 
the public treasure from the deporitory establishe 
ed by law, and by what eruaey has the act 
been done? | 
I maintain that the President of the United — 
States is the author of this whole prececding,and 
shall proceed to shaw that, notwithstanding the 
devices by which this assumption of power ia 
covered over and disguised, he has “assumed 
the responsibility,” er more properly speaking, 
usurped the power, of removing the deposites, 
I presume that, on this point at least, the word 
of the President will be regarded by all parties 


as conclusive evidence of his agency in the bus 


siness. Fortunately the author and the reasons 4 
of this measure are not left to conjecture, bus 
are openly disclosed to the. world in a printed’ 
manifesto; and from what has occurred in tha 


other branch of the legislature, we are now au” 


thorised to consider that manifesto as an official 


| document, containing the reasons on which the 


President of the United States-—not the Somat 


sire 


public deposites. ‘From. that decument I ora ; 
pose to read. a few sentences, which are perfectly 


‘co iclusive of the agency of tke President i in ‘eal | 


‘measure. After stating the various reasons 
which rendered it, in his’ opinion, expedient ta s 
remove the deposites, the President praceeds fa 
add, ‘¢ From all these considerstions the Bisa 
dent thinks that the State banks ought to be im- — ¢ 
mediately employed in the collection and dia- 
bursement of the public revenue, and the funds 
now in the Bank of the United States drawn out 
with all convenjent despatch.” “Then, towards 
the conclusion, of the document, ho ‘says, “The 
President « again repeats that he begs his cabine, — 
to” veonsider t the p. gon meaaity as ig1s OW | 


if 


7 M2 Te. SEBUM UF Wik. NCUURFILE, 


support of which he shall require no one of them|tary of the Treasury shall immediately lay be- 
to make a sacrifice of opinion or principle. Its| fore Congress, if in session, and if not, immediate- 
eesponsibility HAS BEEN ASSUMED, after the most|ly afler the commencement of the next session, the 
most mature deliberation and reflection.” Andjreason of such erder and direction, The power of 
finally we have his decree formally announced in| the Secretary over the deposites is unqualified. 
these imperative words: ‘ Under these consid-; The provision that he shall report his reasons to 
erations, he feels thata measure so important to, Congress is no limittation Had it net been in— 
the American people, cannot be commenced too) serted, he would have been responsible to Con- 
soon; and HE therefore names the first day of Oc-| gress, had he made a removal for any other than 
tober next, ds aperiod proper for the change of the|zood reasons.” Here then the President dis- 
deposites, or sooner, provided the iecessary ar=|tinctly admits this power to be committed by the 
rangements with the State banks can be made.”) law to the Secretary of the Treasury, and that 

Such, Sir, is the authoritative language of the) too under a direct responsibility to Congress, the 
President of the United States, and I submit to}constitutional guardian of the public Treasury 
any man capable of understanding the obvious] Yetsir, in the very moment of making this admis- 
import of plain words, to say whether the Chief| sion, and of disclaiming all intention to exercise 
Magistrate does not openly avow—while recog-|the least control over the right of the Secretary of 
nizing the exclusive right of the Secretary of the the Treasury, to form an independent judgment 
Treasury—that he assumes the responsibility and lon a subject committed to him by the law, what 
‘usurps the power of removing the public deposites. | does the President do? He names the first day 


While the President begs his cabinet to con-|of October as the day on which the deposites aze 


sider the measure as his own, assumes. the re-/to be removed. And, as if to remove all doubt as to. 
sponsibility exclusively to himself, and actually |the author and true character of the proceeding, 
pronounces the Executive order, it will be curi-|he begs “his cabinet to consider the measure as 
ous, if not instructive, to notice the extraordina-|u1s own.” Not only so, Sir, but the determina- 
ry declarations and admissions by which this|tion to remove the deposites was officially an- 
dangerous assumption of power is accompanied. | nounced in the Government paper, three days 
From the parts of the manifesto, to which I before the late Secretary of the Treasury was 
will now ask the attention of the House, you removed from office, showing cenelusively that 
would suppose that he would as soon submit to|the act was done not only without the concur- 
have his right arm struck offas to interfere with rence, but against the opinion of the only person’ 
the free exercise of judgment by the Secretary of|then in existence who had alegal right to do itt 
the Treasury, in discharging a duty assigned te|£am aware that itis argued, that although the 
him by the law. He says: ‘‘ Far be it from him / Secretary of the Treasury 1s the officer selected 


. to expect or require that any member of the cabi-| by the law to exercise this high and important . 


net should, at his request, order, or dictation, do| power, under an express and direct responsibility 


any act which he believes unlawful, or in his|to Congress; although the Treasury Department _ 


_ Genscience condemns.” * * * * “In the} was created asa distinct and independent De- 
, femarks he has made on this all important quee-| partment, and uot like the other Departments, 


| will see only the frank and respectful declara- very power of transferring the deposites is given 
tions of the opinions which the President has |in the bank charter to the Seeretary of the Trea- 


_ formed on a measure of great national, interest,| sry, while another power is given to the Preai- 
| deeply affecting the character and usefulness of, dent; yet, because the Secretary of the ‘Freasury iy 
his administration; and not a spirit of dictation, |is a branch of the Executive Department, it is 
which the Picenece would be as careful to avoid| contended that the President has a rightto make 
as ready to resist.” In a preceding part of the|that officer the mere ministerial agentof his will; 
document he had said—<*‘ The existing laws de-|to.degrade him in fact, from the dignity of a free _ 
clare that the deposites of the money. of the|and responsible agent, into a mere Executive - hs 
i United States, in places in which the bank and|instrument. Congress must surely have had 
branches thereof may be established, shall be|some purpose in conferring this power | of chang- a 


_ made in the said bank. or the branches thereof,|ing the place of deposite upon the Seeretary ot 
fii unless the Secretary of the Treasury shall other-|the Treasury, while a distinct power “was con: 
| 4 order and direet, in which case the Secre-|ferred upon the President. Why was not the 


| Gan, he trusts the Secretary of the Treasury responsible to the President; ‘and although this 


SPEECH OF MR. McDUFFIE. 3 


power given at once to the President, if it was de- 
signed that he should exercise it? It was de- 
nied upon the obvious principle, Sir, that nothing 
can be more dangerous to public liberty, than to 
entrust the sword and the purse to the same 
hands. Under what Government, having. any 
just pretensions to freedom, have these two 
powers ever been united? In what case has the 
King of England dared to venture upon such an 
assumption of prerogative? I very much question 
whether either the King of France, or the King 
of England, could at this day seize upon the pub- 
dic treasure urder similar circumstances, without 
bemg subject toa peril, whieh no President can 
encounter here—that of losing his head. It has 
not been long since a King of France lost his 
crown, and narrowly escaped the loss of his life, 
or aViolation of charternot more flagrant. than 
this we are considering. 

And what, pray, was the emergency that con- 
strained the President, only sixty days before the 
meeting of Congress, to interfere with the duties 
of another officer, and assume a responsibility that 
did not belong to him? It would seem from the 
document to which I have already referred, that 
nothing could be more painful to the President 
than the necessity of exercising this power. We 
have here a striking exemplification of the ex- 
traordinary degree in which public men deceive 
themselves, as weil as others, as to the motives 
by which they are actuated in assuming power, 
particularly thehighest acts of executive power. 
instances’ of the same reluctant assumption of 
power are not rare in history. Itis curious to 
read, as a commentary on his proceedings, the 
strong terms ie which the President regrets the 
necessity of doing what he could have so easily 
avoided. “The President would have felt him- 
self relieved from a heavy and painful responsi- 
bility, if in the charter of the Bank, Congress had 
reserved to itself the power of directing at its 
pieasure, the public money to be elsewhere de- 
posited, and had not devolved that power exelu- 
sively”—not on the President—no, sir, but ‘on 

one of the Executive Departments /” And again : 
“Although according to the frame and principle 
of our government, the decision would seem more 
properly to belong to the legislative power,” very 
sound republican doctrine this—“ yet, as the law 
sas imposed it”—not upon the President yet, but 
“upon the Executive Department,the duty ought 
to be faithfully and firmly met.” ‘It would ill 
become the Executive branch ofthe Government 
to shrink from any duty which the law imposes 


upon it, and fix upon others the responsibility 
which belongs to, itself.” Now, at length the 
idea is presented to us ina new aspect, emerg- 
ing from the studied ambiguity of ‘ executite 
departments, and executive branches,” and we have 
it: While the President anxiously wishes to ab- 
stain from the exercise of doubtful powers, and 
to avoid all interference with the rights and duties 
of others, he must yet, with unshaken constancy, 
discharge his own obligations.” So it would 
seem that the President has exercised this power 
from the sheer necessity of the case--a case of 
great public emergency that admitted of no delay, 
and that he has assumed this high responsibility 
with the utmost pain and reluctance! To be 
sure, sir, every body knows that executive power, 
especially that high order of executive power 
which rises above the law, is always assumed 
with great and unfeigned reluctance. It would 
have been exceedingly painful to Caesar to be 
constrained to assume the kingly office; but Cz 

sar put by the crown. It was no less painful, as 
it would seem, to Richard the Third, to accept 
the bloody crown of his murdered relatives, when 
urged upon him by the clamor of his own parti- 
zans, and by his own procurement, but like the 
President, he could net resist the call of his coun- 
trymen, saying as Shakspeare hasit: 

‘Tam not made of stone, 


But penetrable to your kind entreaties, 
Albeit against my conscience and my soul.?’ 


’ Ofall the difficulties I have ever encountered 
in decyphering any document, the greatest is that 
of ascertaining the ground upon which the power — 


‘of removing the deposites has been assumed by © 


the President. What does that document im- 

port? Does it claim the power of removing the’ 
deposites as belonging to the President? Does it. 
admit the power to exist in the Secretary of the - 
Treasury? Does it imply that the removal is the 


act of the President or of the Seeretary? With 


the utmost exertion of my humble powers of in- » 
terpretation, I have been unable to decide. 1 
have been so much struck with the resemblance 
between the ambiguous title to the crown set 
forth by Henry the IV. of England, and that sot : 
up by the President to remove the public depo- 
sites, that I could not resist the temptation of 
looking into Hume for the record of thef ormee 
document, preserved by the historian asa rare 
specimen of the perspicuitfy with which men 
speak when they attempt to justify the usurpae 
tion of power. It isin these words: 

“In the name of Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost, I, Henry of Lancaster, challenge this 


- oye. Ss 


’ 


os 


rewme of Ynglande, and the crown, with all 
the membres, and the appurtenances; also I that 
m descendit by right line of the blode, com- 
me from the Gude King Henry therde, and 
throge that right that God of his grace hath 
sent me, with helpe of Kyn, and of my friendes 
io recover it; the which rewme was in poynt to 
be ondone by defaut of governance, and ondoy- 
ag of the Gude laws.” 
. Here, sir, is the title of Henry the LV. to the 
crown of England, and there is the title of the 
President to the power c. removing the deposites. 
i willnot undertake to decide which is the more 
yerspicuous document, but will leave it to be de- 
cided by ‘those who have more skill in such com- 
parisons than I have. 

Nor is this a mere matter of criticism. 
always disposed to look with respeet even upon 


Tam 


unfounded pretensions to’ power, which are 


clearly and distinctly set forth. But I confess 
that my alarm is greatly increased, when power 
igs usurped under such glosses and disguisés as 
we find in the manifesto of the President. On 
reading some parts of this document, one would 
auppose that no man in the world could have 
invre deference for the opinion of the Secretary 
ofthe Treasury, or would be more unwilling to 
interfere in the slightest degree with the discharge 
wf his official duties than the President himself: 


_. He says to the Secretary in substance, this, sir, 


by the law. 
_ these self denying declarations, and acknowledg- 
| ing the right of the Secretary to decide for-him- 


+3 a duty which the law has assigned to you; it 


3 your business, and not mine; I have a great 


xepugnance to the exercise of doubtful powers, 


wad still greater to interfering with you in the ex- 
ercise of a power expr essly. conferred upon 3 you 
Yet in the very moment of making 


_ self without the least constraint, he unceremo- 
enipaaly dismisses the Secretary from office be- 
cause he will nof sien the order for removing the 
bea a, and puts into his place a man who 
woul. Here, sir, is a practical interpretation of 
_ the President’s unders tanding of the right of a 
| high officer to the free exercise of his judement, 


in the performance of the duties specifically as- 
signed to him by law. I never have read or heard 


bof any thing that bore any resemblance to the 
‘issue of incoherent and contradictory declara- 
“tons, contained in this executive manifesto, ex- 
loopt in the instance ‘of a. judicial decision made 
by a Dutch judge in some. of the interior town? 
¥ New York—Kinderhook, perhaps ; of whieh 
i wasinformed bya traveller. It was a case in- 
i} 


te 


rolving the right of, the free eAnresiion of opinion’ 


- SPEECH OF MR. McDUFFIE. 


on political subjects, and it was strongly argued 


at the bar that this right was secured by the Con- 
stitution, and entitled the defendant to a verdict. 
The judge, who had determined to decide against 
the defendant, replied to this argument with a 
most gracious and complacent air: “O yaw! 
every man has aright, by delaw, to dink for 
himself in dis rebublican country, profided he 
dinks mid de cort.? And in like manner, the 
Secretary of the Treasury had a clear right, by 
the law, to think and decide for himself, provided 
he would only be so pliable as. to think with the 
;President. But not being possessed, of that con- 
venient phiability, he was dismissed from office 
for not violating his conscience and betraying 
his trust. 

Sir, itis too apparent to be disguised by these 
| bungling devices, that the President of the United 

States is the officer hy whose sole and despotic 
will the deposites lave been removed from the 
Bank of the United States. He alone is the re- 
sponsible agent in shis transaction. It 1s an utter 
perversion of language to say that the Secretary 
of the T'rcasury has removed the deposites. It 
is absolutely false; (Ispeak in a legal sense, ) he 
had no more agency, moral or legal, than the 
iron pen by which the order of removal was 
written. ‘The Secretary of the Treasury remove 
the deposites! He refused to remove them! and 
has paid the penalty of his honest independence, 
by being discarded from office. 

Is this to be gotten over and evaded by pro- 
ducing an order signed by the present Secretary 
of, the Treasury, and saying ‘* here is proof con- 
clusive that the removal of the deposites is not 
the act. of the President.” Shall we close our 
eyes to the true origin and character of this orde: ? 
Shall we not look back beyond it to ‘the cireum- 
stances under which it was given, and the real 
agency by which it’was produced. — 

In what manner, and for what purpose, wae 
the present Seeretary of the Treasury brought 
into office! Sir, he came into office through a _ 
breach in the Constitution; and his very appoint. 
ment was the means of violating the law and the 
public faith. Hewas brought imto his present ; 
station to be the instrument of Executive usur- 
pation. And yet, Sir, because his name is ate 
tached to the order, we are gravely told: that the © 
Sceretary of the Treasury removed the depo- 
sites! Itia en insult tothe common sense of the 
nation to say so. This officer was) made ‘todo 
it by the President, who had no more right tore- 
mave the public treasure than I have pin 8 

Sty, shall we be told that the Provides, ork 


©: 


eee 


Pee AOE rae 
SO eee Be 


~ 


SPEECH OF MR. McDUFFIE. 


the bare fact of his appointing nen to office, has 
a right to assume to himself all the powers con- 
ferred upon thembylaw? He appoints the Federal 
judges. Let us suppose that these judges hold their 
offices bythe tenure of Executive pleasure;andthat 
when some State prisoner should be under trial, 
the President should say to the presidmgjudge-- 
the chief justice for example-—“ condemn that 
man,” or as the tyrant Richard said, “ I wish the 
bastards dead.” If the chief justice should re- 
fuse to obey this Executive order, and claim the 
right of judging for himself, would the President 
be authorized to dismiss him from office? Would 
he have a right to tear off the ermine from his 
shoulders, and place it upon a mere instrument 
who would do the deed of blood? “Why not, 


5 


weight. Indeed, ifit could be shown that the 
Treasury could make an arrangement with the 
| State banks more favorable to the Government, 
than that subsisting with the bank, even that 
might be an adequate reason if the bank would 
But how stands the fact? Are the deposites al- 
Why, Sir, it 
is now admitted by all parties, even by the gen- 
tleman from New York, (Mr. Campre.ene,) 


ledged to be unsafe'in the bank? 


who prophesied so dismally of coming disasters 
at the session before the last—and the Sceretary 
of the Treasury himself—that the deposites were 
Not only so; 
but itscems that from having been an insolvent 


perfectly safe in that institution. 


concern, and an unsafe depository of the public 


|not serve the Governiment on the same terms, 


‘power is thus vested in the officer charged with |" 


Sir? It would be perfectly justifiable, accord- ifunds, as the Government sirenuously endeayor- 
ing to the logic by which the preseut usurpation ed to show at the last session—the bank now 
ia attempted to be justified. has too much specie inits vaults! Yes, Sir, the 


f will now proceed, Sir, supposing the depo- | “Harge now is, that this horrible monster is so 
er , 


sites to have been removed by the Secretary of GET seons Ny trea ay i ray ee a 
the Treasury, to examine the reasons he has cumulated mare than ten millions in its. vaults 
aubmitted to Congress in justification of the act. bbe then, vas pp da nl Hagin teited a 
And in the first place, without stopping to weigh |°7Y of chsh ig Nand ie an re Povcrmngay 
the reasons assigned, I affirm that however true Has it Teiused” to precnnt the public meneys 
in point of fact, they are not in the slightest de-| Wherever required for disbursement, promptly 


gree applicable to the question of removing i ae ee sie at | a Te beni) consiera tpt 
when I say that there is not a Government on 


deposites. ‘They no more touch that question d ; 
the face of the earth, be the sphere of its opera- 


than if they related exclusively to the religious 
I allude to the 
governing reasons, not to those that are thrown 


opinions of the bank directors. 


ment has been by the bank. Look, Sir, at the 
astonishing fact thatin the collection and‘ dis- 
bursement of our immense revenue for seven- 


in as mere make-weights and after-thoughts. 
The fact that the power of removing the depo- 
sites is given to the Secretary of the Treasury, 
and not to the President, evinces that it was the 
intention of Congress that the removal should be 
made only for reasons connected with the safety 
of the public treasury, or the facility of the finan- 
cial operations of the: Government. ‘Since the 


teen years, amounting to four hundred and forty 


ing and disbursing! Nor is this all. No ered 
tor of the Government has had to wait one mo- 
tfor .his duesso far as the bank has beer 


tions large or small, which has been so, well 
served in its financial operations,as this Govern- 


million of dollars, not a dollar--no Sir, nota single 
dollar, has been lost in the operations of colleet- 


ry dh Py ae ’ Ny ; ; Ha Se 
the administration of the finances, it would be|Concerned; and moreover, when he received his _ 


obviously transcending his power to-exercise it| MOMey, tt was Monty. God grant that I may be 


. J a wry . . 
for reasons in no way connected with the opera- able to say so two years hence, ‘Thus, Sir, as it 


"tions of his Department. If it were shown that | 'égards the operations of the bank, we are “in 

the bank is not a safe depository of the public the full tide of successful experiment.” Our * 
treasure, that would be a conclusive reason currency from unsoundness and derangement, 
for removing them. If the bank. had failed to has attained a degree of purity and uniformity 
eomply with the stipulations of the charter, in unequalled by that of any country in the known 


transmitting the public moneys from one point world of the same geographical extent, We 
of the Union to another, when required by the have had to pay a mere nominal _exchange- on 
Government to doso, that would be a satisfac-| the most distant commercial operations, and the 
tory reason. In fact, any failure on the part of fiscal operations of the Governmnnt have been 


the bank to comply with its engagements to the Carried on without any expense at all. Thus,. 


Government, would be a reason of more or Iess| Sit, With a solvent bank--the most solvent I 


6 SPEECH OF MR. McDUFFIE. 


might say inthe world—a safe depository for) tration ordered; if it had pat out Jonathan ané 
the revenue, and a perfectly sound and uniform] put in John when commanded to do 30--that we 
eurrency——in a word, while in the enjoyment of should have heard any objections to its exereise 
all that the heart could desire in these respects,| of political power? The President’s meaning 
what do we now witness? After two years of|is perfectly plain. When he says the bank 
unremitting and unexampled persecution of the| agents must not interfere im elections, he means 
bank by the Executive Government; after an un-| that they must not oppese his, election, but be- 
successful attempt to destroy its credit by. all| come the mere creatures and tools of the oie 
manner of calumnies which have recoiled upon| istration. 

their authors; notwithstanding the bank has ful-| This, Sir, was the attempt made at am early 
filled to the very letter every stipulation con-| period of this administration; I do not say by 
tained in its charter; yet have the public funds of/the President, or by any person then in the 
the country, been arbitrarily removed from this/Cabinet, but by those who were very near 
safe depository where the law had placed them) the throne. The effort was te induce the bank 
by the President of the United States, without a|to discard the president of one of its branches 
shadow of legal power, and that, Sir, for no le-| who was confessedly competent to the discharge 
gal offence, but for opinion’s sake. Yes, Sir,| of all the duties of his station, on the ground of 
in this land of liberty, where all men were be-| his political opinions. The bank resisted this 
tteved to enjoy the most perfect and unrestricted| attempt asit ought to have done, and a vindic- 
freedorn of opinion, and the right too to the un-|tive war has been urged against it ever since. 
restrained exercise of all the influence they may] So far as the present board is concerned, (and } 
choose to exert in political affairs; a great insti-| believe those of most, of the branches, } its mem-. 
tution has been assailed, its stockholders and of-} bers have carefully abstained from mingling, as 


ficers distranchised, and the property of widows 
and orphans trampled in the dust by the foot of 
a tyrant; and all this for no other crime than 
the free exercise of political opinion, and if you 
please, the free exertion of political influence. 
Pray, Sir. what right has the President of the 
United States to say that the stockholders of the 
benk or its officers, shall not interfere in his 
election? I believe that no portion of our fellow 
citizens have so studiously abstained from med- 
dling with party politics as the officers of the 
benk. But supposing they had taken ever so 
active a part even in his election, has He any right 
to forbid it? Because a citizen has placed. his 
capital in a bank, is he, therefore, disfranchised? 
Shall he not dare to open his mouth in opposi- 


partisans, in the political contentions of the coun- 
try, because it was their interest todo so. They 
even made the attempt—a desperate one to be 
sure—to conciliate this administration, by seru- 
“pulously performing all their engagements with 
the Government, and even going beyond them 

But it was not to be conciliated by such means. 
The plans and purposes of certain individuals 
near the President, had been thwarted, and the 
feelings of the President have been so artfully 
wrought upon, that the destruction of the bank 
has become his ruling passion, and he seems 
now to believe that there is no nuisanee in the 
world that so much requires to be. exterminated 
as the Bank of the United States. 

If I were te decide upon pices should 


‘tion to the election of the President, without in-|be the course of a National Bank, in regard to 


eurring the guilt and the penalty of violated ma-|the politics of the country, I should say that itis 
jesty? Are we already in the reign of Tiberius? | desirable that the present, and all future banks 
Even in his time, this would scarcely have| ofa similar-kind, should be® habitually opposed 
amounted to that high crime against majesty . | to the Executive Government. It would be an 
Thisgreason so gravely urged by the Secretary admirable balance in our Systom, ‘and would 


ef the Treasury, following the lead of the Presi-| tend to check the fearful tendency to Executive 


dent, so far from having any weight with the|é€ncroachment. We have nothing to fear from 
House, is of a nature to-produce the strongest|thatoperation.. The real danger lies in an op- 
indignation., What is the plain English of it?| posite direction. It is that the President. should 


What does the President mean. when he says| convert the bank into a mere, instrument of his 


that the bank must not interfere in his election,| will, and should wield its power, which has 
or attempt to acquire political power? Sir, 1| been represented as so tremendous, in addition 
will tell you what he means. Does. any man to the still more ‘tremendous. power “which he 
‘Suppose that if the bank had consented to be an derives from the patronage of such a Govern- 
ex rms do whatever. the adminis- ‘ment, and that overwhelming tide of popularity 


SPEECH OF MR. McDUFFIE. 


7 


which will generally follows the man who distri- 
butes that patronage. 

But, Sir, the President seems to be fully 
aware of the danger arising from this meretri- 
cieus connexion between the banking and the 
Executive power of the country. In the mani- 
feste he very properly and wisely expresses him- 
selfthus: ‘Itis the desire of the President that 
the control of the bank and the currency shall, 
as far as possible, be entirely separated from the 
political power of the country.” Never was 
there a more wise and patriotic sentiment, and 
the man who should act up to it would be richly 
entitled to be President of the United States. 
There, Sir, is the precept. 
tice. The President, it seems, is anxiously de- 
sirous that the control of the banks should be 
separated, as far as possible, from the political 
power of the country. And what has he done? 
He has, in effect, said that because the official 
agents of the Bank of the United States have 
dared to opposo his election, the faith of the na- 
tion shall not for a moment stand as an impedi- 
ment in the way of their condign punishment. 
And what more has he done? He has not only 
punished the Bank of the United States, for opi- 
nion’s sake, by removing the deposites, but he 
Aas set up the public treasure in the political mar- 
Ket to the highest bidder’ Yes, Sir, I sincerely 
believe that the President of the United States 
is doing that which, if not speedily arrested, will 
create a system of Executive control, and bank 
dependence, that will subvert the liberties of the 
country. By way of separating the bank and 
currency from the political power of thecountry, 
and avoiding the corruption which such a con- 
nexion must engender, we are to give to tke 
President or his pliant instrument, the Secretary 
of the Treasury, (and after what has occurred 
he will never want “such an instrument,) some 
twenty millions of public money to be distribut- 
ed among the various local banks throughout the 
country according to the complexion of their po- 

-litical opinions. Sir, the danger of such a sys- 
tem admits of no exaggeration; and I speak not 
the language of exaggeration, when I say that, 
as Godis my judge, I would rather trust even 
Gen. Jackson wih 50,000 mercenary soldiers, with 
the military bilf of the last session asking authori- 
ty for using them, than to give him permanently 


this power of purchasing up the local banks, and 
through them controlling the whole community. 
Sir, we might resist the mercenaries, but it 
‘would be utterly impossible to resist such an in- 
sidious all-pervading power as this. With twen- 


Now for the prac- 


ty millions of public money, the President could 
get absolute control over some forty or fifty local 
banks judiciously selected with a view, not to 
the separation of the political and. banking pow~ 
er—no, Sir, but with a view to a result precisely 
opposite. Every man in the least acquainted 
with the principles of human nature, must know 
that the banks selected would be, or would be- 
come, so many political partisans of those +n 
power. Sir, we have some light thrown upon 
this subject by our experience already. It is 
scarcely two months since certain banks were 
selected to receive the deposites unlawfully re- 
moved from the Bank of the United States, and 
already have we seen two of their officers in 
the political arena. 

A president of one of these banks in Baltimore 
is before the public, in the newspapers, vind+ 
cating, as in duty bound, the Seeretary of the 
Treasury ; andI understand another has pursued 
a similar course somewhere in Virginia. But we 


are assured by the President that the moment 


the officers of a deposite bank interfere with 
politics, thé deposites must be removed; yet 
have heard nothing yet of any such movement 
against these banks. But I have no doubt tat 
if they had dared to say a word against the Pre- 
sident, they would before this time have received 
such a hint as was given to the late Secretary 
of the Treasury. 

Sir, I should be much more disposed to rely 
on the declaration of the President concerning 
his anxious desire to separate the banking and 
executive power, were it not for the experience 
we have already had of the woful discrepancy be- 
tween his profession and his practice. [ do net 
attribute this to any wilful duplicity in the Pro 
sident. I believe when he makes professions he 
feels, fer the moment, as ke speaks. But I concur 
in the opinion expressed of the President, by a 
gentleman who lately held a distinguished place 
in his cabinet. I believe with him that the Presi 
dent “has no fixed principles ; that he does not 
arrive at conclusions by the exercise of reason,’ 
but that “impulses and passions have ruled.” 

What has been the difference, then, between 
the professions and the practices of the Presi- 
dent? I have heard a great deal about the pria- 
ciples (I beg pardon for using a werd which ¥ 
believe is nearly out of the fashion) upon which 
General Jackson came inte power. And I have 
aright, sir, to speak of these, with some au- 
thority, for I stood then in the midst, yes, sir. 
in the very brunt of the then unequal contealy 
waged against “principalities and powers,” when 


6 SPEECH OF MR. McDUFFIE. 


hoe ale a MIM Np rhe e de Ralt AMR AA h e hy coto  e se pns tal Aiy 
the miserable sycophants--yes, sir, the misera-}' I appeal to every man who has any knowledge 
ble reptiles, who have literally crawled in their)jof the events which are passmg, whether, if we 
own slime to the footstool of executive favor, |decide that the local banks shall be the deposite- 
stood then on the side of those who still held pa-|ries of the public revenue, it will not become a 
tronage and power. What, then, were the prin-/ matter of political bargaining between the ex- 
€ij'-es upon which the present chief magistrate}ecutive and these banks. All of us know what 
ecme into power? Why, siz, we had taken uplis now going on. Indeed, I fear the time will 
the notion that the officers of the federal govern-|never come when the election ofa President wil} 
ment had become a little toa pragmatieal in in-|not be tHe all-eagrossing and paramount object 


terfering with the political contests of the coun- 
iry, mud that, as a matter of principle, they ought 
to be restrained from using the influence of their 
efices inthis way. And, accordingly, the Presi- 
Gent, in his inaugural address, told the country 
that one of the crying sins of his predecessors 


of the leading and active politicians of the 
country. Do we not all know that the great 
question now at the bottom of all others is, whe 
shall fill the throne when the present incumbent 
shall descend from it? It is a contest for the 
succession, and the administration party 18 now 


had been, that they had permitted office holders’ notoriously organized, as completely es a party 


to interfere with popular elcctions. 

Now, I put it to all men who have eyes and 
ears to see and hear what has passed, and is 
passing, whether there ever was a period since 
the formation of the government, when all the 
efcers of the executive government, from the 
highest to the lowest, approached so nearly to 
the likeness of an army of tramed mercenaries, 
moving at the nod of their leader. “Why, sir, no 
man can now breathe the air that surrounds tke 
palace, who does not think precisely as the Presi- 
dent thinks, and who will not consent to be 
docked or stretched until he fits the bed of Pro- 
erastes, and his political opinions are brought to 
the tru > executive dimensions. Upon this prin- 
ciple officers have been discarded, and offices 
filled; and this is the promised rerorm! Yes, 
sir, this process of turning out officers who are 
epposed to the administration, and putting in its 
partizans, has proceeded so far, that the very} 
word reform has become synonymous with turn- 
ing out an officer and putting ina partizan. 


The rule seems to be,to turn out all who have|the executive favorite. 


ever was organized, to insure the election of the 
“heir apparent.” Under this view of the ‘sub- 
ject, I cannot but advert to one of the reasons 
‘assigned for the removal of the deposites, viz . 
the approaching expiration of the Bank charter. 
Now, if I am capable of reasoning at all, this is 
one ef the very strongest reasons why the Pre- 
sident should have abstained from depriving the 
bank of its chartered rights, by an arbitrary ex- 
ercise of power. In little more than two years, 
by the limitation of its charter, the Bank wilt 
cease to have any influence or power. The 
principal and controlling objections urged by 
the President against the bank, are completely 
answered by this fact. If, as we are told, it is 
a dangerous institution, and calculated to subvert 
the liberties of the country, can any one suppose 
that it will do this in two years? What, then, is 
it that the bank could accomplish in this short 
period, which has produced such apprehensions ? 
I will tell you, sir ; it may exert an influence. hey 
the election ofthe next President, unfavorable to 
Hence; sir, the impoz- 


no other merit than qualification for the office, |tance of selecting new depositories of the publie: 
and put in those who will most obsequiously|révenue, and of organizing a system of political 
adopt the opinions, and bow to the will of the banking. And I will venture to predict, that im — 
President, or of those who control him. Sir, it} two years from this time, if we do not arrest the 
is notorious, it is known to the whole world, that] proceeding, there will be a perfect organization _ 
the places of those who have been removed from|of the deposite banks from Maine to Louisiana, » 

office, have been habitually filled by noisy and{and the political and monied power of the coun- 


-open-mouthed partizans of the administration,|try W rill be concentrated in the same place, and: 


and very frequently by men who have no other|in the same hands. Att these banks (the result 
tperit. When, therefore, the President tells us|is inevitable) will be actuated by the same po- 
that he is anxious to separate the control of the|litical spirit, gov erned by the same influence and 
banks froma the political power of the country, wielded by one man. Not only the twenty mil- 
1 must understand him to mean that heis anxious lions of public revenue, but a hundred millions of 
that the control of the banks shall be in the hands|bank capital will be thus wielded for politica® _ 
ot those who will not poe to oppose his adminis-| purposes, to the corruption of the public. morals, i 
tration, and me subversion of the public liberty, 


SPEECH OF MR: McDUFFIE. 9 
Bot ner RPRT UTNE aa EN oi MSS BINT ESE Ne aa Ee RRR 


In every respect the President has selected the 
most unfortunate period for this mest pernicious 
interference with the banking operations and 
eredit of the country. We are told, however, 
that the measure was adopted to enable the Se- 
_eretary of the Treasury, by timely arrangements 
with the State banks, io prepare a substitute for 
the bills of the United States Bank, and to pre- 
vent the derangement, which would otherwise 

“take place in the currency, at the expiration of 
its charter. Now, it is obvious that the removal 
of the deposites at this time will not at all de- 
crease the embarrassment which must take place 
when the Bank of the United States calls in its 
debts and winds up its concerns. The directors 
of the bank understand their duty and interest 
well enough to know, that the government de- 
posites would be a part of the debt of the insti- 
tution, for which they would make the same pro. 
vision as for their other debts. The effect, there- 
fore, of the removal now, was to produce all the 

"present pecuniary distress gratuitously, and in 
addition to that which must take place at the ex- 
piration of the bank charter. 

Nor is there any just foundation for the belief 
that the Secretary of the Treasury. can provide 
any Substitute for the bills of the United States 
Bank, that will have a general circulation and 
eredit throughout the union. While that bank 
eXists, as a check upon the excessive issues of 
the local banks, their paper will be good in their 
respective spheres of circulation. To give them 
a credit and circulation beyond this is what the 
Secretary of the Treasury never can accom- 
plish. Itas certain that the arrangements which 
he has made with the new deposite banks effect 
no such object, “Have these banks ,stipulated 
reciprocally, to receive the bills of each other all 
over the Union, in payment of the government 
dues ? No such promise is made, sir. On the 
contrary they stipulate to receive in deposite from 
the government only such bills of the banks in 
their vicinity as are in good credit, and usually 
received by them in the transactions of com- 
taerce. | 

Would a note of the deposite bank at Norfolk 
be received from the government debtors in 
Charleston ? Why, sir, if you were to go witha 
note of the Metropolis Bank to Richmond, you 
could not make it available, at par, to pay a debt 
ty the government. | 
_ Such are the evils to which the community is 

. already exposed, and if the Bankof the United 
States were destroyed, we should soon have all 
the blessings of a depreciated currency, broken 


banks and a rate of exchange averaging from 
five to ten per cent, operating as a tax to that 
extent. upon all the distant operations of com-. 
merce, for the benefit of money changers. Nei- 
ther isit true, sir, that the removal of the de- 
posites to the local banks has strengthened their 
credit, and enabled them to make a eorrespond- 
ing enlargement of their accommodations to the 
community. Indeed, it may be well doubted, 
whether the credit even of the deposite banks 
has not beenimpaired by this proceeding. There 
ig a rumor that one of the deposite banks has re- 
quested the Secretary of the Treasury to restore 
the deposites to the United States Bank. I will 
not vouch for the fact, but it so well corresponds 
with what I believe to be the true interest of the 
deposite banks, that I am the more inclined to 
give it credit. Iam well assured, that for the 
last ten years there has been nothing like the 
present pecuniary embarrasement; and if the 
Bank of the United States were to do what it has 
a right to do, and what, I believe, prudence re- 
quires it to do—curtail its discounts in propor- 
tion to the amount of the deposites removed from 
it, it is impossible to estimate the extent of the 
pressure upon the State banks, or to foresee the 
consequences. 

While on this: branch of the subject, I will no- 
tice another of the arguments of the Secretary 
of the Treasury. He says, m the profeundness 
of his financial knowledge, that one object he had 
in view in removing the deposites at this time, 
was to save the community from the injurious 
effects which would otherwise result from the 
depreciation of the notes of the Bank of the 
United States, at the expiration of its charter! » 
Now, Sir, can any thing surpass the extraya- 
gance of this notion, and isit not amazing that 
such wretched absurdities should be gravely pre- _ 
sented to Congress? Here, Six, is a bank not 
only solvent by the admission of the Seeretary, p 
but having in its vaults ten millions of specie, 
and a capacity of realizing in sixty days a suffi- | 
cient fund to redeem its whole circulation ; and. ‘ 
yet we are told that as the day approaches whom 
these notes will be certainly redeemed by specie 
if demanded, they will depreciate in value, to the’ 
great loss of the holders? Why, Sir, a common 
farmer would ridicule the nonsense of the man. 
who should tell him that a note held by him on. 
his wealthy neighbor, and which would be cer- | 
tainly paid when due, would become less valua- 
ble at the moment of its payment, than it was” 
when it had two years torun. 5 

Whe, Sir, can really believe that the notes of 


10 


SPEECH OF MR. McDUFFIE. 


the bank will depreciate to the extent of one 
fourth of one per cent? And yet, this miserable 
pretext is thrown in to palliate this pernicious and 
ruineus measure, which must greatly depreciate 
the value of every species of property throughout 
the country. 

I will now proceed to consider the only sub- 
stantial ground assigned by the Secretary for 
the removal of the deposites. It is.a ground 
which, if it were true in point of fact, would be 
entitled to the consideration’of the House. It is 
alledged that the unusual and unnecessary cur- 
tailment of the Bank of the United States from 
the Ist of August till the 1st of October, had 
produced such extensive embarrassment in the 
commercial community, as to render it absolutely 
necessary for him to act so promptly in the bu- 
siness, that he could not even wait until Con- 

_ §ress should again be in session. If this were 
| true—if it can be shewn that the bank has pur- 
sued an unusual and unjustifiable course in cur- 
| tailing its discounts to oppress the community, 
this would certainly be a reason of considerable 
| weight, justifying the course pursued by the 
| Secretary of the Treasury. 
| But what are the facts? We are told that 
| from the first of August, to the Ist of October, the 
_ bank reduced its loans to the enormous amount 
of between six and seven millions of dollars, 
whereas, in truth, the bank in that period, reduc- 
i éd its discounts only one million ten thousand 
t dollars! I repeat, Sir, that the discounts of the 
| bank—I speak technically—were reduced only 
| fo this extent; and the whole amount of the re- 
} ductions in all the operations of the bank, in- 
ti cluding the domestic bills purchased, (which are 
| not loans, (was little more than four millions of 
; dollars, and yet we have been officially informed 
| by the Secretary that the reductions of the bank, 
| or to use his peculiar language, its “ collections 
Hf JSrom the community,” have amounted in two 
'| months, to upwards of six millions of dollars. It 


it |28 worth while, Sir, to look a little more minute- 
iM ly into the process by which the Secretary reaches 
} this financial result. The sum of $6,334,000 set 
| es as the precise amount of the curtailment is 
ii made up by adding to the discounts proper and 
|domestic bills of exchange purchased, the in: 
.)\ {erease of the public deposites amounting to up- 
| wards of two millions. N ow, Sir, whether we 
' consider the Secretary as using the technical 
anguage of banking or the language of com- 
mon sense, I cannot but regard this as a gross 
"| tempt to impose upon the community. Wha, 


does it amount to? That the increase of the 
public deposites is equivalent to a reduction of 
the discounts of the bank. In other words, the 
bank is condemned for not extending its dis- 
counts by lending out the Government depo- 
sites, when the Government was notoriously 
making arrangements to remove these depo- 
Yes, Sir, the bank that has been de- 
nounced for extending its discounts at a period 


sites! 


of great commercial embarrassment—the bank 
that had on that very ground been charged with 
using its funds to control the elections—that 
very bank is now denounced from the same 
quarter, because when the public deposites were 
about to be removed by a lawless. exercise of 
power, it did not extend its discounts upon the 
faith of those deposites! Can any thing be 
more characteristic of the capricious despotism 
exercised over thebank? The directors of the 
bank would have deserved to be cashiered, if 
they had not provided for the approaching storm, 
by preparing to deliver up the public deposites 
instead of lending them out under the. existing 
circumstances. 


The Secretary of the Treasury goes on to 
give a most dismal account of the public distress 
produced by this unreasonable conduct of the 
bank, alleging that the removal of the deposites 
became an imperious duty asa means of arrest- 
ing it. I grant, Sir, that if the domestic bills 
purchased by the bank are fairly to be regarded 
as a part of its loans, the curtailment from Au- 
gust to October, amounted in the aggregate to a 
little more than four millions. But the’exchange 
business cannot with any propriety be so regard- 
ed. It does not consist of loans, but as the 
term imports, it is the means of transferring 
fands from one place to another. When a north- 
ern merchant or manufacturer purchases cotton 
at the south, he sells a bill to the bank payable at 
New York in ninety days, and by the time it 
falls due the cotton is there and sold to meet it. 
The object of this transaction isto save the risk 
and trouble of transmitting money from the north 
to purchase the cotton. The bill is paid off in 
full at its maturity, as a matter of course, and 
upon no commercial principle could it be re- 
garded as analogous to demanding the payment 
of a discounted note. But even if they were so 
regarded, the whole amount, of the curtailment 
would be only four millions, instead of six, as__ 
the Secretary States. That is to say the Go- | 
vernment had evinced a determination to de- 
prive the bank of eight millions of the capital 


. 


SPEECH OF MR. McDUFFIE. 


11 


upon which its discounts had been based, and| 


the bank to prepare for this contingency had re- 
duced its discounts four millions of dollars, 
about one half of the extent to which its means 
were about tobe diminished. But the bank had 


pressive to the whole country, to be sure of the 
ground on which itacted. It ean never be jus- 
tified for inflicting a public injury, (here is a 
nice question of casuistry,). by alleging mistaken 
Opinions of its own, when the means_ of obtain- 


not only been thus curtailed in its banking capi-|ing information absolutely certain, were so ob- 


tal, but it has been subjected, in common. with 
the State banks, to all the panic and pressure 
produced by this rash and lawless act of the Go- 
vernment. Its reductions, therefore, so far from 
being excessive, are such as common prudence 
rendered indispensable to its safety, and are less 
than the act ot the Government would seem to 
require. But a further charge is brought against 
the bank by the Secretary. It is that it has 
adopted the heartless and monstrous policy of 
accumulating specie in its vaults to prepare it- 
self for these hostile movements of the Govern- 
ment! it seems that between the Ist of August 
and the Ist of October, its specie had increased 
$639,000, and the Secretary “ believes”. it was 
drawn from the State Banks. And what. proof 
does he adduce of this fact? Why, Sir, strange 
as it may appear, that the Bank of the United 
States had permitted the balances due to it by 
the State banks to increase from $368,000 to 
$2,268,000 during the two months in which this 
operation is alledged to hdve taken place! Such, 
Sir, are the proofs that the Bank of the United 
States has endeavored to drain the State banks 
of their specie. 

But even if the bank had curtailed its ae. 
counts to the extent alleged,and that curtailment 
had produced all the suffering experienced, the 
Executive Government, and not the bank, is re- 
sponsible to the country for the calamity. I ne- 
ver have read a more unfair and jesuitical argu- 
ment than the one used by the Secretary to 
throw the odium of his own conduct on the 
bank? It is well worth perusal. 


viously within its reach. The ehange was al- 
ways designed to be gradual.” 


Now, Sir, did the Secretary suppose when ke 
made these assertions, that the manifesto of the 
President was entirely forgotten? Did not the 
President publish his decree in September, that 
the deposites should be all removed on the Ist 
of October, and sooner if practicable? Yet in 
the very face of this declaration of the Presi- 
dent, we are told that it was always designed 
to remove the deposites gradually, and that the 
bank ought to have aseertained this by asking 
the Secretary of the Treasury. Sir, who was 
the Secretary ofthe Treasury? Wasit not M). 
Duane; and pray what information could he 
have given if the bank had applied? Subsequent 
events have shown that he was quite in the dark 
on the subject. The whole spirit of the pro- 
ceedings of the Government, made it the duty of 
the bank to consider the removal of the depo- 
sites as a measure decided upen and prepared 
forall. the consequences of so dangerous and 
hostile a movement. Yet when the adminis- 
tration has brought this great calamity upon the 
country without the shadow of a cause, and the 
denunciations of the community begin to burst 
forth in all quarters, in a voice of thunder, why, 
forsooth the Secretary of the Treasury exclaims— 
“Thou canst not say J did it.” It was the 
bank, that monster of corruption, that heartless 
tyrant, that has produced all this suffering, with- 
out necessity, and purely to gratify its vindictive 
feelings.” No, Sir. It is in vain that the ad- 
ministration, after wantonly producing this great _ 


“The capacities of the bank, therefore, at this; calamity, by an act of injustice and tyranny, at- 
time, to afford facilities to commerce, was not tempts to throw the responsibility and the odium 
only equal, but greatly superior to what it hadjupon the persecuted victim of its injustice. 


been for some time before; and the nature of the 


I will now proceed to inquire whether the speci- 


“been promptly and satisfactorily answered. 


inquiry made of the State banks, confined as it| fic charges brought against the bank, and which 
was to the four principal commercial cities,show |have been made the grounds of remeving the de- 
ed that the immediate withdrawal of the entire! posites, have any foundation in fact. It is al- 
deposites from that bank, so as to distress it,|leged that the bank has violated its charter, in 
was not contemplated. And if any apprehen-| delegating certain Executive functions to what is 
sions to the contrary were felt by the bank, an|called the exchange committee; whereas one of 
inquiry at this Department, would no doubt have|the fundamental articles of that charter declares + 
(1|‘* that not less than seven directors shall consti- 
wonder wHo would have answered it.) The/tute a board to do business.” 

Sceretary proceeds: “ And certainly it was the} Now, if it were true that the charter has been 
duty of the bank, before it adopted a course op-' violated, the President might have ascertained by 


12 SPEECH OF MR. McDUFFIE. 


consulting that charter, that it was his duty to| der which the power delegated to the Exchange 
direct a scire fucias to be issued against the bank| Committee is exercised. The President and his 
in order to have this question decided judicially| Secretary seem to regard it as an independent 
by the federal court, instead of condemning and power, exercised without any effective responsi- 
punishing the institution in this summary man-|bility to the directors; whereas the proceed- 
ner without a trial. But it did not suit the tem- ; 
per of the President or the purpose of his ad- 
visers ‘to adopt a legal course. Indeed, Sir, I 


ings of this Exchange Committee are regularly _ 
entered on the books of the bank, which are suby 
mitted to the board of directors at every regular 


sauch -question whether a respectable lawyer 
could be found in the United States, whe would 
hazard his reputation by standing up before the 
court upon such an issue. 

In providing that not lessthan seven directors 
should constitute a board, the charter meant no 
thing more thau that the legislative authority of 


meeting, and as onlya few days’ intervene be-’ 
tween these meetings, the proceedings of the 
Exchange Committee are constantly open to the 
inspection and review of the Government diree- 
tors. Indeed, it may be almost said’ that the 
proceedings of the Exchange Committee are car- 
ried on under the eye of the board, so speedily 


the bank—the power of prescribing the rules and| is every act laid open to it sinspection. Nocom — 
regulations for its general government, should| cealment from the Government directors was 
not be exercised by less. than seven directors.| possible under these circumstances, when it 13 


| The commitment of certain executive duties to 
subordinate committees, is no violation of this 
| article, provided these committees are appointed 
{ with the approbation of the board, and in con- 
|  formity with the rules prescribed by it. Every 
| person acquainted with the details of banking, 
| knows that alarge portion of the business of all 
! banks is necessarily done by its officers, without 
_ the presence of the directors, though. by their 
authority. Ifall the duties of sa president of a 
bank, were required to be performed in the pre- 
sence, and by the direction of the whole board, 
it would be impossible to carry on’ the ‘business 
of banking. It would be like forbidding ‘the 
President of the United States to perform any 
ef his appropriate duties, without the presence 
‘i and concurrence of the members of the legisla- 
| tive body—a very imconyenient incumbrance, 
( | Sir, to which I do not think the President would 
_ readily submit. 

i A great effort hasbeen made-to create the im- 


notorious that the books of the bank are always 
open to their inspection, if they thought preper 
to inspect them. 
Another charge brought against the bank 
which I was surprised to see, is the old story of 
the three per cents again! This dish, it seems, 
we are to have cooked and served up in all the 
various modes of culinary preparation, so us te 
be adapted toevery palate. This charge was | 
brought forward at the last session, .and referred 
to the Committee of Ways and Means; who 
reported that the arrangement made by the bank 
with the holders of the three per cent. stock, so. 
far from delaying, actually hastened its payment. 
Why was that arrangement so vehemently de- 
nounced? I will briefly explain it. The Go- 
vernment had determined to pay off the three 
per cents. in October, 1831, at a period of great 
pecuniary pressure upon the commercial com=- 
munity, owing to the large importations of that 
year. The bank took that liberal and conipre- 


pression, that there is something extraordinary] hensive view of the effect which this operation 
and unprecedented in the operations of the ex-| would produce upon the credit of the country, 
change committee. Itis treated as a dangerous] which it would have been well if the Goyern- 
and recent innovation. ‘Now, as carly as the! went had taken, and stipulated with the holders 
year 1821, when Mr. Cheves was at the head of] of these three per cents. that the eertificates — 


iq — bank, this very authority to purchase bills of} should be delivered up to the bank, and the - 
‘exchange, was delegated to the president and] amount bearing a specified interest, entered to 


cashier alone, 


Pa the credit of the holders on the books of that in- 
aoe it is alledged that this arrangement is an| stitution. | By this arrangement the Government 
invention designed for the purpose of excluding! ceased to be responsible for the stock, and ceas- 
* eeepent directors, not only from a due] ed to pay interest on it sooner than if the ar- 
participation in the operations of the bank, but! rangement had ‘not been made.” How, then, 


\ rot va Knowledge of them. Now, Sir, the ab | were the views of the Government thwarted? * 
|| surdity of this suspicion will be seen at once by| By the relief which the bank thus extended to” 
| ooking into the machinery and details of this sys-| the community at a moment of great pressure? 
| Ngee and by ascertaining the circumstances un-| Without any loss to the Government, or any dss 


Py a 
aa Pat Ya, 2° 


lay inthe redemption of the public debt, the bank 
was by this means enabled to avoid curtailing 
some six millions of its accommodations until 
the crisis of commercial embarrassment passed 
away. The arrangement, Sir, was essentially 
benefical to all parties and injurious to none, 
and I am utterly ata loss to conceive why the 
ghostly form of these extinguished three per 
eents. is now conjured up in the array of 
charges against the bank. It serves no other 
purpose than to evince the spirit of the prosecu- 
tion. 

Another charge gravely urged against the 
bank, and ef whichthe udministration ought to 
be ashamed, is the criminal audacity of demand- 
ing from the Government, ona protested bill of 
exchange, the same damages which the Govern- 
nent itself has universally demanded of indivi- 
Auals under like circumstances! 

The Government being desirous to obtain, 
funds here in exchange for funds in Paris, the 
dank in the spiritof kindness and accomodation 
which has marked all its transactions with the 
Government, voluntarily offered to purchase a 
bill of exchange from the Treasury here upon the 
French Government, upon better terms than 
could be obtained any where else, or to advance 
the money to the Government here, and. under: 
take the collection of the bill as its agent. The 
Treasury declined the agency of the bank, and 
sold it the bill on the French Government asa 
mere commercial transaction. From some cause 
the French Government refused to pay the bill 
audit was protested in Paris. The agents of 
the Bank there, paid it for the honor of the bank. 
But the President of the United States alleges 
thatthe sum paid here for the bill, was left in 
the bank and simply added to the amount of the 
public deposites. if this were’ true, it would 
not vary the case as to the legal liability of the 
Government for damages, But it is not true. 
On the coutrary, the Secretary of the Treasury, 
ander the authority of an act of Congress, gave 
public notice that the nine hundred thousand dol- 
lars obtained for this bill, would be loaned out 
for the benefit of the claimants for French spoli- 
ations to whom it belonged. It was, therefore, 
as much taken from the available fund :ef the 
bank, as if ithad been immediately pa ix’uver to 
the claimants. The directors would have been 
stupid in the extreme, if they had regarded this 
as anadditien to the Government deposites, and 
wade it the basis ef discouats. The bank hay- 

ing sold the bill in London, would. have been 
liable to the ful amount of legal damages on its 
being protested,’but for the good fortune of hav- 
ing aun agentin Paris who paid it. And now, 
Sir, after the bank has saved its own credit and 
that of the Government by this payment, the ad- 
| ministration comes forward with a charge against 
\ the bank of assailing the credit of the nation, 
because it demands its legal rights! Sir, the 
faith of the nation has been tarnished—deeply 
‘tarnished —by the utter disregard the Govern- 
ment has manifested, in a mere question of legal 
right, to the great moral and religious precept 
ef doing unto others as it would that others 
)should do unto it. The Government has inva- 


SPEECH OF MR. McDUFFIE. 


1S 


riably exacted the legal damages from individu- 
als in similir cases. In the case of Stephen Gi- 
rard, conclusive proof was adduced that the pro- 
tested bill was immediately paid—by the agent 
of Girard, and not by the agent of the Govern- 
ment—and that not one cent of damages was 
sustained by the Government. Yet the twenty 
per cent. damages were exacted to the utter- 
most farthing. Under these circumstances it iv 
a shame, a crying shame, that the administra- 
tion should thus not only refuse to pay its just 
debts, but assuming the judicial power of de- 
ciding in its own case, attempt to forestal the 
opinion of the tribunals which are alone eompe- 
tent io decide the question. In every view it 
was the duty of the bank to make this claim, 
and of the Government to pay it. It was the 
only mode of obtaming damages from the French 


|Government; for unless our Government shal] 


pay damages, it can exact none froin Franee. 
To say nothing of the other stockholders, the 
people of the United States own one-fifth of the 
stock of the bank, and they have aright to de- 
mand that the administration do not sacrifice up- 
wards of thirty thousand dollars of their money, 
by its arbitrary and faithless conduct towards 
the bank. Inevery respect, this is one of the 
most audacious charges ever brought by the ad- 
ministration against the bank, to justify the high- 
handed measures by which they have attempted 
to destroy it. 

I will now proceed, sir, to consider that charge 
against the Bank, which is the real moving 
cause of this persevering and relentless perse- - 
cution. It is, as the executive expresses it, that 
the bank “has attempted to, acquire political 
power,” a charge unknown to any code of law, 
moral or political, and of that fearful vagueness 
which indicates the arbitrary spirit in whieh it 
originates. The first specification under this 
charge is founded on a resolution of the Board 
of Directors, authorizing the President of the 
Bank to have certain documents printed to ik 
lustrate its operations. ‘To my mind this seems 
to be a very harmless resolution, but as the Pre- 
sident of the United States has denounced it as 
a dangerous precedent, clothing the President 
of the Bank with powers subversive of the liber- 
ties of the country, I will beg leave to read it 
for the information of the House: ‘* Resolved, 
that the President be authorized to cause to ba 
prepared and circulated such documents and 
papers as may communicate to the people injor- 
mation in regard to the nature and operations of the 
bank.” Now, I pray to know, sir, what appli- 
cation of the funds of the stockholders could be 
more useful and judicious, when the institution 
and its credit were assailed by every species of 
misrepresentation and calumny? But the Presi- 
dent of the United States seems to regard it 2a 
equivalent to clothing the President of the Bank 
with the whole fiscal and military power of the 
country, He says: N29 

‘* Was it expected when the moneys of the 


United States were directed to be placed in that 


bank, that they would be put under the control 
of one man, empowered to spend millions with 
out rendering a voucher er specifying the object? 


14 SPEECH OF MR. McDUFFIE. 

—— — ————..é.O OOOO 
Can they be considered sare with the evidence ments, when conferred on Mr. Biddle, is all a 
before us, that tens of thousands have been spent piece of cheatery, but when a discretionary pow- 


for highly improper, if not corrupt purposes, that} 
the same motive may lead to the expenditure of 


hundreds of thousands and even millions more. 
And can we ustify jourselves to the people by 
longer lending to 1t the money and power of the 
Government, to be employed forssuch purposcs?” 

It seems that the President of the United States 
has an instinctive abhorrence for discretionary 
executive power delegated to any one but him- 
self. What 1s this power vested in the President 
of the Bank? itis not onty harmless and inno- 
cent in its object, but pertectly safe as a respon- 
sible exercise ot power. The President acts un 
der the authority of the. directors, with whom he 
is daily associated, who have daily opportunities 
of inspecting his proceedings, and to whom he 
is, therefore, under a constant and direct respon- 
sibility for the exercise of the discretion vested 
in him, as to the amount he may spend in print- 
ing documents explaiming the operations and vin- 
dicating the credit and the character of the bank. 
Yet the President of the United States thinks 
this very insignificant power subversive of public 
liberty, when he is himself clothed with a discre-. 
tion a thousand tmes more dangerous. Sir, 
when I recur to what was done here at the last 
session—when I reflect that an act was passed, 
I will not call it a law, and that too at the, special 
instance and request of the President, clothing 


him with the power not only to spend the whole! 
revenue, but to exhaust the credit of the nation; 


in arraying a military power against a sovereign 
State of this Union, I contess I cannot but feel 
surprise and disgust to hear that President mag 
nifying a molehill into a mountain, and talking 
about the danger of executive discretion! A sim- 
ple resolution authorizing the President of the 
Bank ‘to print explanatory documents is a mon- 
strous proceeding, but an act clothing the Presi- 
dent of the United States with dictatorial power, 
is all perfectly fair and proper! This brings very 
foreibly to my recollection another Dutch anec- 
dote, and as I am in the way of drawing illustra- 
tions from this excellent class of our citizens, from 
whose very eccentricities lessons of wisdom may. 
be deduced, I beg leave to relate it. Ina certain 
Dutch vicinity, I will not say Kinderhook lest a 
question of location should arise—a lottery was 
authorised, and on a certain day the neighbors 
all assembled to witness the turning of the wheel. 
The drawing commenced, and blank after blank 
was drawn by the principal persons in the neigh- 
borhood until a general suspicion of unfairness 
began to prevail. A large bully stepped for 
ward ag the champion of his neighbors, threat- 
ening to smash the wheel to atoms, and declaring 
that it was all a ‘ willainows piece of gheatery.” 
In the midst of his rage, when every one was 
trembling for the safety of the wheel, a friend 
atepped up to him with great exultation, ex. 
claiming, “my dear sir, have you heard the 
news? You have drawn the highest prize.” 
“ What, (said he) the 
a ding as ever wes.” 
And so, Sir, in the estimation of General Jack- 
son, the discretionary power te print a few docu- 


highest prize! ‘Its as fair) of the local banks to relieve it from the pressure 


er of levying war and spending money without 
any limitation is conferred upon himself, itis as 
fair a thing as ever was. iat 
The President of the United States asks if a 
bank whose directors make such an application 
of the public funds is fit to be the depository of 
the public treasure? Sir, I wish the President of 
the United States had been as faithful to the 
trust committed to him as the agent of the peo- 
ple of the United States, who own one fifth part 
of the stock in this bank, as the directors and of- 
ficers of the institution have been to their trust, 
as the agents of the stockholders in general. 
What, then, are the respective duties of the Pre- 
sident of the United States and the President of 
the Bank, as representatives of the stockholders, 
and how have those duties been performed. The 
contrast is striking. It is equally the duty of 
them both to promote the presperity and credit 
of the bank, in order that its capital may yield a 
large profit, and its bills furnish a sound cur- 
rency. But what has been their conduct? For 
several years past, Mr. Biddle has been night 
and day exerting talents of the highest order, | 
with a singleness and devotion never surpassed, 
to promote the credit and usefulness of the bank. 
And what has the President of the United States 
been doing in the same period? Has he exerted 
his influence to advance the credit and success 
of the bank, as the relation he bears to the stock- 
holders and the country required him to do? 
No, Sir. On the contrary, he has been strain- 
ing every nerve, and attempting to move heaven 
and earth to accomplish the destruction of its 
credit, and consequently of its prosperity. Ata — 
time when the bank was as solvent as any bank 
in the world, he suggested that the public depo- 
sites were not safe in its vaults. This charge, _ 
which in any other country would have shaken 
the credit of any other bank, coming from such a 
source, made not the slightest impression upon 
the Bank of the United States. Nothing can be: 
said more highly creditable to the bank than that 
it was able to stand up against this assault upon 
its credit by the executive government, anda ~ 
confederacy of speculators and stock-jobbers, — 
which would certainly have-prostrated the Bank 
of England. 
And what a lesson are we taught at this very 
moment of the danger incurred by unskilful per- — 
sons who venture to meddle with edged tools. 
The administration, or more properly the Presi- 
dent, has struck a blow that it was supposed 
would shake the credit of the bank to its deepest 
foundations. That blow has recoiled, And while 
the credit of all the other banks has been shaken 
by the concussion, the Bank of the United States 
stands alone on a rock of adamant, bidding a 
proud defiance to the storm, and generously ex- 
tending the hand of succor to other institutions. _ 
Yes, sir, Iam informed that withina few days 
past this bank tendered aloan of $50,000to one ~ 


produced by this reckless and vindictive act of | 
executive madness. Such, Sir, is the contrast 
between these two Presidents, ze 


‘ 
t 


i, 


SPEECH OF MR. McDUFFIE. 


15 


I come now to another of t he specifications {the relief of the commercial community. They 
under the charge against the bank, of ‘‘attempt-| were so applied, Sir, and were the means of saving 


ing to acquire political power.” Itis alleged by 
the Secretary of the Treasury that between the 
Ist of January, 1831, and the 1st of May, 1832, 
a period of sixteen months, the bank increased 
its loans the enormous and unprecedented sum 
of $28,000,000. And it is inferred that this ‘ex- 
tension of its loans could be designed for no 
other purpose but to give the bank a political in 


probably hundreds and thousands from great 
distress, if not from bankruptcy. 

I well recollect the lugubrious vaticinations of 
a gentleman from New York, (Mr. Camsre- 
LENG,) who told us that the bank had seduced 
the merchants into the excessive importations, 
and it could not save the country from general 
bankruptcy. But experience, which has falsified 


fluence to be used in opposition to the election of|this prediction, has shewn that the bank under- 


General Jackson. I will first examine the facts 
“and then the logic of this specification. The 
Serretary states that “the aggregate debt due to 
the bank” on the Ist of January, 1831, amounted 
to $42,402,304 only, whereas on the Ist of May, 
1832, its loans amounted to $70,428,070. Now, 
in fact, the discounts of the bank amounted to 
$33,575,403 at the former date, andhad only risen 
to $47,375,078 at the latter date, making a dif- 
‘ference in the accommodations to the community 
» of only $13,799,675, instead of twenty-eight mil- 
lions as the Secretary’s statements would induce 
the public to suppose. But this is not all. At 
the former period, the bank had a debt due to it 
by the Government of $8,674,681, and by Baring 
& Co. $2,387,331, making a sum of. 11,062,012, 
which added to the discounts, raised the debt due 
to the bank in January, 1831, exclusive of do- 
mestic bills, to $44,637,415, being only $2,737,663 
less than the amount of discount in May, 1832. 
It is apparent from this view, that tle aggregate 
debt due to the bank in January, 1831, including 
$10,456,653 of domestic bills, was $55,094,068 
instead of $42,402,304, as represented by the 
Secretary of the Tieasury, making the differ- 
ence between the debt due to the bank at the 
two periods selected for comparison, even if we 
include the domestic bills, only $15,334,002, and 
_if we exclude these bills as not properly classed 


stood its own duties and operations much better 
than those who chose to step out of their appro- 
priate sphere, however enlightened on the gene- 
ral subject of political economy. Th2country 
not only passed through the crisis, by means of 
the wise and liberal course pursued by the 
bank, but passed through: it without a struggle. 
The merchants would not fail, even to accoum- 
modate the gentleman from New York, and the 
country was brought out of its difficulties so na- 
turally and smoothly, that it was hardly aware of 
the crisis. ‘The bank is certainly entitled to the 
highest commendation instead of being ob- 
noxious tocensure, for effecting this great public 
benefit, without impairing its own credit—a re- 
sult which the gentleman from New York dcem- 
ed utterly impracticable. If I were to select 
the period, or the incident in the history of its 
proceedings, best adapted to illustrate its use- 
fulness it would be precisely this. And I will 
only remark further on this point, that the intel- 
lect of that man must be wofully perverted, who 
can see in this proceeding no other motive or 
object, than to interfere in the Presidential elec- 
tion. 

I have gone through all the charges brought 
against the bank that I deem worthy of notice, 
and I now beg the attention of the House to those 
urgent considerations which impel it to an imme- 


with bank loans, the difference will be only|diate interposition ef its authority. I need not 


$4,877,349. It will be here perceived that to 
make out his charge of an unprecedented exten- 
sion of its loans by the bank in the sixteen 
months artfully selected, the Secretary has sup- 
pressed the debts due to the bank by the United 
States, and by Baring & Co. amounting to 
$11,062,012, in stating the “ aggregate debt due 
te the bank” in January, 1831. And I am con- 
strained, Sir, to believe that this suppreseion was 
intentionally made, as the facts were upon the 
- face of the menthly statements, and of a nature 
- not to be overlooked, or misunderstood. When 
the bank converted its government and foreign 
_ debt into cash, what course could it pursue but 
_ make a corresponding extension of its discounts ? 
| This was not extending its debt, but changing 
| its character, by lending to our merchants what 
| it had collected from the government and fo- 
reigners. To censure this, argues a total ig- 
_ norance of the duties of the bank, and disregard 
| of the pressing wants of the commercial commu- 
| nity at the period under review. It wasa period 
of unprecedentl, large importations, when the 
_ heavy commercial debt contracted, and the unu- 
sual amount of bonds due to the government, 
| required that the bank sheuld draw in all its 
resources from other quarters, and apply them te 


tell those who hear me of the actual and impend- 
ing distress and ruin which threaten our com- 
mercial cities, and finally the whole country. The 
evidences of this are every where to be seen. 
We can neither turn to the right nor to the left, 
witheut perceiving anxietyand dismay in every | 
countenance. Is it not, then, the solemn duty of 
Congress to interpose its constitutional power to 
arrest the progress of this desolating torrent ? 
We are called upon, Sir, by every consideration 
which can grow out of a just regard for our own 
contemned authority, or for the rights and liber- 
ties of the people. The President of the United 
States has unlawfully seized. upon the public 
treasure. Where, Sir, is that treasure at this . 
moment? No man here can tell us. By what. 
authority has the President takenit? Let gen- 

tlemen produce it if they can. 

Sir, Congress is peculiarly called upon to 
vindicate its right to the guardianship of the 
public treasure, because the Presideit has at- 
tempted to forestall its decision and places it in 
a situation which may preclude the free exercise 
ofits judgment. Why, Sir, was the change of 
the deposites, made only sixty days before 
meeting of Congress? I will tell -you the rea- 
son. The President was fearful that he could 


not induce even a drilled majority to do that 
which if already done upon his responsibility, it 
might be induced to sanction. He is a military 
man, Sir, and he knows the effect produced in 
desperate emergencies, when the General throws 
himself into the breach, and calls upon his sol- 
diers to rush to his rescue, or witness his des- 
There could not have been selected a 
time for performing this act better calculated to’ 
show the President’s defiance of the Legislative 
authority. And yet, Sir, the Secretary of the 
‘Treasury hascome here with the. miserable—I 
had almost said impudent pretence—that he was 
constrained to. do it by the necessities of the 
Itis not true, Sir.. The President 
had only to announce that. the deposites would 
not be removed until the question should be first 
submitied to Congress,’ and ihe public mind | 
The Secretary 
But the Executive Government 
has thought proper to. thrust itself forward and 


truction. 


country. 


would have been put at ease. 
weil knew this 


place the subject insach a position as almost to 


deprive Congress of its free agency, We are 


now told by a gentleman from New York, (Mr. 


( ® 


sites to the Bank of the United States was an 


idea that struck him with alarm; that the coun- 
try had already suffered too much from one _re- 


moval to be able to endi.re. the effects of another. 
It is for this reason that I have made my_ reso- 
lution prospective. Lam not so reckless of the 


sufferings of the community, asto take away the 
money which has been actually deposited in the 


selected banks, I know we shall be told that 
the picture of public distress is exaggerated. 
One gentleman, indeed, (Mr. VanpErPoEL,) told 
us the other day, that it was all a humbug to as- 


cribe the prevailing distress to the removal of the] 


deposites. Ifthis be a humbug, it is a very me- 
Jancholy one, But whatever gentlemes may 
have thought three days ago, I believe there is 
no one who would now be bold enough to say 


that the removal of the deposites. has had no | 


agency in producing the public distress. The 


calamity can hardly be over estimated. Any 


idea which we can form of it here, will fall short 
of the sad reality. I confess, Sir, | have been 
astonished at the accounts brought by every 
mail, I did not believe that a scene of distress 
so sudden and extensive, could have been’ pro- 
duced by the miserable tampering of the Go- 
vernment with the system of commercial credit. 
Itisa mistake to, suppose that it is confined to 
the merchants or to the commercial cities. It 
will extend like a/wave until it affects every class 
and reaches the furthest limits of the country. 
In relation to oné of the great national interests, 


' I can speak with positive knowledge, as to the 


yy cotton planter, whodid not sell his crop at 


depression this measure has produced in the va- 
fue of Property; 1 confidently believe that eve 


the commencement of the season, has lost two 


_ cents on every pound of his cotton, in conse- 
- quence of this’ measure, It is a fact without 


precedent, but conclusively shown, by a compa- 
rison Cf the Liverpool and C harleston prices cur- 
rent, that the price of cotton has been habitually 

_ fvecents lower jin this country, at any given 
: ; 


JSAMBRELENG,) that the restoration of the depo- 


| State banks in all its ramifications of dependant 


jact of the President, it will be, in my humbk 
opinion, establishing in perpetuity, ; 
connexion between the banking — 


that the country will not be 
condition by the vote of this I 
|T can only pray that a power 


SPEECH OF MR. McDUFFIE. 


time, than the European prices published at the 


same time here. I presume all other descrip- 

tions of property have experienced a similar de~ 

pression, and can well imagine that all property 
.in stocks, public, or private, must have suffered * 
even in a greater degiee. Itis stated on good > 
authority, that the stock of the Girard Bank,» 7 
the one selected in Philadelphia to receive the 
‘Government deposites, has fallen from 70 to 54 


since the Ist of October. sie i _ 


An administration that will thus wantonly 
tamper with public faith and private property, te 
promote the selfish purposes of individuals— 
whatever else it’ may. be called—does not de. 
serve the name of Government. In what, ft 
would ask is all this to result? I am not sure 
that I know precisely what is its object, but I 
can tell you very certainly what will be its end. 
It will be, Sir, the sacrifice of the industrious 
and enterprizing classes of the community, to. » 
promote the interest of gpeculators and stock- 
jobbers. Hundreds of industrious men, whose — 
credit is their principal capital, will be ruined, 
while the money lenders and money changers ~ 
wil! realize princely fortunes, making a rich har- 
vest ofthe public distresses. If there be any 
speculators in the stocks—whether connected 
with the administration or not—who have stipy- 
lated to deliver certificates of State bank stock 
ona given day, they may profit by this act of 
the Governmont. Butif there be any who have — 
caleulated to make this measure subservient to 
their speculations im the stock of the United ~ 
States Bank, I rejoice that they will be disap- | 
pointed, ‘The stock, of that bank has been lesa 
affected than any other. Huet Beaute ea csiee 


And now, Sir, in concluding my remarks, ! 
must be permitted to say, thatif. we ratify: thie 
proceeding of the President;and Secretary of the 7 
‘Treasury, by refusing to order the restoration of — 
the deposites—in addition to the present suffer- 
ing and distress of the people, we shall permit 
a system of political banking to be entailed upon 
the country, utterly, mcompatible with. public 
liberty. If weintend that it shall ever be arres 
ed it must be done now, For if we give time 
the complete establishment of this confederacy 
between the Executive Government and — 


interests, I will defy all human power to br 
the league or resist the man who wields its 
Is it not apparent that it will conve 
deposite banks into dependants and parti 
the President? Is it not equally ; 
the politician who controls these ba 
rectly control. all those \ 
them, and thus obtain an abs 
the public will? If this House s 


political power of the country, an 
both in the hands of one man. 


may be interposed for its rescue, 


